A couple days ago we talked about the difference between a marketer and a sales person. Today, I wanted to give you a few tips for improving the sales in your program. If you didn’t read my blog from a few days ago – do that first. I’m not going to talk about how to improve your marketing, but rather your sales, so you’re going to want to have a clear understanding of each position!

Sales feels gross, right? Like the idea of sales makes you feel a little sleazy like a used car salesman. (Sorry Terry McBride…I hope you aren’t reading this blog.🤣) If you feel that way, then you’re living in the past. Today, sales is so different than what you see on TV. Rarely are prospects willing to sit around and be told what they need and why they need it. People are too educated to be swindled these days, and they have google at their fingertips. 

If you’ve ever bought four Target giftcards because the IRS was going to call the police on you, then you might be eligible to be swooned by a sleazy salesman. If not, then you’re the perfect example of why sales is no longer “sleazy”. Sales is simply the process of identifying what someone needs and helping them find value in the product you offer. 

If someone comes to me and says, “I see you have batting cages. My son really needs to improve his pitching arm. Will your batting cages help him do that?”, I’m not going to be able to sell her on a month of unlimited cages. Unless I can help her find the value in the space, I can’t sell her a product she doesn’t need. Now…don’t give up that easily. I’d personally show her the space, let her know it’s about 20 feet shorter than what she really needs, and ask if he’ll be working on drills or needing to do actual pitching. The ability to sell something is simply based on if you can find common ground with what someone needs and what you offer. Sometimes that requires out of the box thinking, and that’s O.K. too!

Improving your ability to sell is one of the hardest things to do. It requires you to consistently sell and be willing to lose out on a sale simply to try new tactics and test your communication skills. For example, when I first listened to Grant Cardone tell me that I needed to ask more questions and do my listening, I took a risk. Busy moms only have so long to talk to someone about a program before they need to be somewhere. I had to test the waters of asking questions and helping find their actual reason for needing a program while keeping a careful eye on the clock to make sure I didn’t converse my way right out of a sale. 

Here are a few things you can do to improve your ability to sell. I recommend looking at staff members who also have the skills mentioned in this week’s blog and promoting them to your sales team. Note: Marketing people may also be a good fit for this, but it is two entirely different skill sets they may or may not happen to have. 

1. Role play. I realize the thought of this makes a lot of you cringe. Even so, this is something we do in our gym pretty regularly. Lexi will work with our front desk staff to ensure they’re asking the right questions to find out what a parent is looking for while having a natural and authentic conversation. In the process, you’re building a relationship with someone. How many of you enjoy watching Justin’s live videos because he was the first person who told you all the benefits of the Academy?? He built a relationship with you! To prevent some of the timeliness and trial-and-error it takes to learn sales, set up times to role play with your staff. Be the customer. Give them a hard time. See how they respond to you and give them feedback.
2. Study sales. Grant Cardone’s book Sell or Be Sold was life-changing for me. He talks about how at any given time in life you’re either selling someone on an idea or they’re selling you on one. “Where do you want to eat tonight?” Justin says. “I don’t know. I just don’t want pizza.” Who sold whom there? I can tell you – I likely sold Justin on tacos or Chinese because I ruled out one of the major options. Sales generally is harder than that, and Grant gives you so many great tips on how to do it and just how creative you can be with the questions you ask and the responses you give.
3. Provide consistent feedback. It’s rare that I work in the gym for an afternoon and don’t have at least one or two tips for my staff on how to improve their sales. Whether it’s, “Hey, I would have asked this as well…” or “Don’t forget to tell them this.” I always have some feedback. I also often listen to tone of voice or watch body language as my staff is talking to customers. I have even been known to snap a video without either of them knowing just so I can review the video with staff later and give them tips for how to get better. Strange? Yes. Am I willing to do it to improve my staff? 100%.

Make sure you’re also estimating your close rate. This is the percentage of time you close the sale when someone inquires about something. While I’m not suggesting everyone do this, it’s the #1 reason we still only allow birthday party bookings in person or over the phone. It’s not terribly convenient, but I know if we can talk to someone, their preferred date matters less than the end result. If it has to be a week early, the child gets to celebrate and mom can have an amazing (and super easy) birthday party. If I don’t get them on the phone and they just see that their preferred date isn’t available, I can’t make that sale as easily. 

Good luck with your sales, and start working on closing the deal!